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INSTANTCITY: I recall driving past UCSB in the early 1960s with my preschool kids, noticing a flat, near-barren expanse of a few shops and small apartments with single-family homes clustered at the far end.

A very few years later, I drove by again and was amazed to find a small city happening, with a forest of absentee-owned, multi-unit apartments rising everywhere.

Barney Brantingham

The UC Regents had plunked down a major campus in the middle of virtually nowhere, or so it seemed at the time, and said, “You’re on your own.” The county, heeding pleas by developers, was quick to rezone to allow a dense student ghetto of stucco moneymakers. It was ugly. I recall asking a student why he smoked so much dope. “It makes I.V. go away,” he replied.

Since then, my kids matured, attended UCSB, and grew up. Isla Vista (which translates to “island view”) just grew. But put 23,000 people with an average age of 20 in a cramped few blocks, isolated from the main community, and you have kids with a lot of freedom and a lot of time and looking for fun. And outsiders looking for trouble.

The main drag, around the Embarcadero loop, is one of California’s densest clusters of humanity, with 13,465 living within the town center of just over a half-acre. And no one’s really in charge. It’s a case of in loco parentis, children running the household instead of mom and dad.

All attempts to form a city or at least include I.V. when the City of Goleta was being born failed. Cityhood attempts failed in 1973, 1975, and 1984.

No one wanted this problem child. Today, one of the main problems with this unwanted child is its friends, who swarm from far and near into what they see as Party Central. It’s also become an overcrowded mecca for Santa Barbara City College students.

I’ve watched as idealistic civic saviors like Carmen Lodise, the former “mayor” of I.V., labored long and hard over the years to save the town from itself. Lodise, who published the landmark Isla Vista: A Citizen’s History, in 2008, now lives in a Mexican fishing village. I emailed him this week to ask how he thought the town had evolved.

“It’s still only a half-square-mile in size, hosting far too many people,” he answered. “It’s 96 percent renters, most traffic starts are on bike, the ocean is close by, and most of its residents graduated in the top 5 percent of their high school class ​— ​the brightest young people the state turns out.

“What has changed is the loss of empowerment. In the ’70s, the town was chock-full of people who thought we could change the world, and we would show it by grabbing hold of the reins of power and revenues in becoming a ‘city,’ a conventional method under state law. And that’s the rub. A lot of that caring feeling lasted into at least the end of the ’90s, when I had a weekly newspaper there. But it gradually dissipated after that.

“No matter, critics said at the time, an I.V. city had plenty of revenue capabilities, as any independent analysis demonstrated, especially the county-commissioned EIR of 1984.

“But I.V. was denied that simple pathway three times by [the county’s] Local Agency Formation Commission [LAFCO] that was 4-1 Republican at a time Isla Vista residents were voting 80-90 percent Democratic. And, of course, such an option was opposed by the UCSB administration, which, in alliance with the county, had created the pressure-cooker community.

“Today, I.V. drifts under the failed but absolute control of its overseers ​— ​the university and the county. The 2002 Grand Jury concluded that Isla Vista needed more self-government, and I’m expecting that the new Grand Jury looking at Deltopia will conclude the same.”

Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, I spent many hours in a town that seemed bursting with a zesty wave of intellectual and artistic ferment that Santa Barbara lacked. The Red Lion bookstore and Magic Lantern movie art house attracted Santa Barbarans. Linda and Bob Borsodi opened a coffeehouse that offered food, music, and plays.

But Vietnam War protests and the burning of the Bank of America changed the mood. Isla Vista, like the U.S. in general, was gradually drained of an idealism it has yet to regain.

Could a second renaissance bloom in Isla Vista, or does the UCSB campus itself provide all that young (and older) minds need?

Thanks Barney. Borsodi's was post-1970 I think, and I think you meant `half-mile' instead of `half-acre' at the beginning. There is nowhere in IV where 13,465 people live in a half-acre.

A lot happened in the 2000's that Carmen was gone for. A strong effort to be included in the City of Goleta. A thrust by UCSB to reach out to IV yet again. Attias. The RDA. But you are one of the last people in the media, Barney, to remember the Red Lion, the Unicorn, the Brazen Onager, and the original Magic Lantern.

Thanks for the memories Barney. I must admit I was puzzled reading comments from folks who said they lived in I.V. and attended UCSB around 1970.They remembered it being so peaceful. Good Grief!! Do not they remember William Kunstler riling up thousands of students who marched into I.V., burned SBSO patrol cars and burned the Bank of America? What followed were subsequent efforts to burn temporary BofA buildings, a young man laying dead in the street and significant property damage. It took the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department SEB Unit to come to town and put an end to the series of civil unrest. It was an ugly time. The reality is that I.V. will never become a city. Unless the university were to work out a deal to annex it will continue to be a huge drain on county tax funds. I guess the university would have to increase tuition or find some other creative funding source to expand it's public safety services. I bet Janet Napolitano can handle this situation...

letrianon, you are right on, except my knowledge of the June visit by the LA County Sheriffs was rather different than yours. Seems to me there was a massive peaceful protest, 100's arrested, and all exonerated due to misbehavior by those Sheriffs.

IV is by no means a drain on County funds. Were it a city, the added costs of all the city overhead (attorneys mostly) barely drive IV the red, according to the 2001 city hood fiscal studies.

But IVs revenue particularly including the tax revenue generated by spending at Costco etc, now transferred by the Revenue Neutrality Agreement by the City of Goleta to the County more than covers current expenses.

There are significant State and Federal funds shared with the County based on population, and IV has a lot of population and very little County infrastructure like roads. The LE costs in IV are indeeed high, but over Summer and Xmas it is very quiet which helps a bit.

I attended UCSB 1980-1985. I remember walking on Del Playa one Friday night and looking around at all the people. It hit me: "there are no grownups here". At the time, it was the strangest revelation but now I think it pretty much sums up IV.

This is likely the most prescient observation and challenge that is and will be made in any discussion of "the Isla Vista situation" at this point.

There probably has never been a better time, or person in the seat of president of the University of California than Janet Napolitano now to truly make things happen for the betterment of Isla Vista. With Chancellor Yang the factotem on the white horse, and President Napolitano working all the levers she has at her disposal behind the scenes until there are rollouts - ALL things considered in her background - the real money it will take to civilize IV can move. Fueled not just by the massacre, but by the attention to it and Hallowe'en, Floatopia, Deltopia etc. have attracted. Before it's again, "...Stop. Hey. What's that sound..."

Real, long-term, systemic, seemingly intractable problems at the community level only get solved with outside money. It's a fact, demonstrated over and over again. Conservatives don't like to hear this, and their politicians will inveigh against it, even as their politicians are bringing home the bacon to them. It will take real money. Maybe state. Definitely federal. It might be transportation, subsidies, tax expenditures (breaks), some off-campus "center of excellence" in IV - not the other side of the airport - that works "in cooperation with the university" and not on campus. And other channels that even a conservative politician wouldn't dispute in the event. Because it also puts money in the pockets of their supporters in the process.

Hopefully, President Napolitano was more than a seagull while she was in town, and made a swing through IV.

I'm curious about the statement that UCSB has opposed the cityhood incorporation of Isla Vista: "such an option was opposed by the UCSB administration, which, in alliance with the county, had created the pressure-cooker community." I don't necessarily dispute it, but I wonder exactly what the University has done. Can you elaborate on UCSB's position or cite examples of their actions?

I went to UCSB from 1960 to 1965, lived in the Alpha Phi sorority house off campus. After I graduated, my dad along with his 3 partners built a residence hall for freshmen boys off campus. I worked for the owners and knew all of the student-residents, one of whom was John Zant. At that time the Isla Vista landlords were mostly local Santa Barbara owners. Jack Schwartz, Jim Ventura, Richard Phinear were a few. In fact, Jack Schwartz lent his little office to the priest who first started to say Mass in Isla Vista. Because it was too small, Jack asked my dad if Dos Pueblos Hall would open its dining commons and it became the site to hold church services for the community before St. Mark's was built. I realize today it is quite different. I always said the university made a huge mistake not buying up the land adjacent to the university for housing and classroom buildings. However, maybe they could buy up apartment buildings closest to campus as they come up for sale. It might be the best investment they ever made. I am still active as an alum in my sorority so I visit Isla Vista often and see all the improvements being made. Hopefully the future for students will include more opportunities to demonstrate leadership off campus as well as on campus. Over the years I have met many mature and capable UCSB students, mostly female, who are so smart and have so much to offer. Isla Vista needs their help and I am sure if given a chance these young people will step up and provide it. UCSB is a terrific school and Isla Vista is a very unique place to live. I truly hope this tragedy does not overlook all the positives that happen in this little community. Don't forget that Kinko's was born in Isla Vista in 1970 and look what that wonderful hippy-looking kid Paul Orfalea accomplished!! There will be many more like him from UCSB I am sure.

discusses some of the UCSB position/examples. In 2001 UCSB just didn't take a position and the Goleta Cityhood folks cited that as a reason not to include IV & UCSB, although many, many residents wanted a unified city…

I forgot to make a comment about the politics of excluding Isla Vista in the City of Goleta. The reasons given by many residents of the county and the city of Goleta (a relatively new city by the way) is that local residents felt that the students in Isla Vista were too transient a population to be allowed to vote on local issues that affected local property owners. You can understand that is a concern because students wouldn't be affected by the consequences of their vote when they move away in a couple of years. I believe the university went along with the county on this issue.

The deaths this week have ignited a lot of connection among those of us who were Isla Vistans in the early 1970s. Regarding danger, the police were the major source of physical danger in those days, and things got better when the Foot Patrol was created and we actually knew many of the officers. As one friend said when he called from New York yesterday, the biggest danger was roving packs of feral dogs who had been left in IV when students left in June. My friend remembered being cornered but not bitten.

There was no alcohol in IV, so we were stoned rather than drunk, and the quality of the weed was not in the same league as it is today.

Isla Vista should have been allowed to become a city in 1973. An infrastructure would have been in place before Prop. 13 (1978) and some of us would have stayed to become the city staff. The adult to youth ratio might have been better, and urban planning would certainly have been more sustainable and safe.

Among the principles established by Isla Vista was the right of voters rather than property owners to decide on taxation, and the ability of students to vote at their school address. I was a 19 year old Isla Vistan when the voting age was lowered to 18 from 21. We immediately changed our legislative districts from Republican to Democratic.

As someone whose family moved often during my childhood, I consider IV to be one of my primary hometowns. My experiences there 1971-75 shaped the rest of my life on a fundamental level. Thanks for reviewing the history of our "strategic hamlet."

UCSB's problem is the IV has given it the #2 party school in the US ranking and this has attracted all the meatheads, divas and morons passing off as the "best and brightest."What happened in IV last Friday was NOT random. That little whiny crybaby CHOSE to come to IV, yes, to attend SBCC, but he KNEW of IV's party scene as a function of UCSB's party school ranking.Hey, what better place to sow your royal oats (though I doubt if even the craziest girl threw herself at him he'd know what to do, he was a little diva).Time and again, the "best and brightest" have overly proven that they CANNOT govern or manage themselves, time and again it has been at the expense of everyone else and this time it has cost some lives in the process.The IVFP needs to step up enforcement of even the smallest laws because when you enforce those, the consequences for violating bigger laws will be evident.People walking in the middle of the street blocking traffic and hitting cars? Ticket them, check if they're sober and if not, book em' for DIP.Underage drinking in public? Bust em' give em a fine to pay and a suspended license for a year.People ripping rear view mirrors off of cars? Bust them! people damaging mailboxes? Make them face federal charges.Sorry kids, but nobody acts this way ANYWHERE ELSE, why should it be allowed in IV.I can guarantee you this: Halloween this year, it's going to be dead and douchetopia, you can kiss that good bye, it is a done deal, which is what it should be.

Terry Utterback… thanks for your posts. Something to think about… an `Isla Vista Foundation' structured like I *guess* the ownership of the Alpha Phi house is structured.

Perhaps the IV Foundation could own housing less for reasons of profit and more for reasons of development of UCSB students.

As for Goleta, sure, they are afraid of the student vote, which I think is a remnant mostly of some water board politics from the 70's or 80's. A bit from 3rd district politics.

There are a lot of permanent IV residents. There are a lot of temporary residents of Ellwood and Goleta Old Town in the City of Goleta. But one thing… the students now in IV will be replaced by other students later. Student interests are kind of immortal this way. Preventing students from voting now does guarantee the future students are short changed.

abstract668 thanks, yes, I wish the 1973 city hood went through. But LAFCO does not respond to the residents in IV. As true in 1973 as in 2001.

"People walking in the middle of the street blocking traffic and hitting cars?"

I don't know why you like to make such crappy statements like this. 99.99999% of the time when people are walking in the middle of the street in IV and blocking traffic they don't "hit cars" and there is nothing wrong with what they are doing, it is part of IVs culture. If there are enough people out to fill the street, then cars will need to yield to pedestrians. I don't recommend coming home on a Friday or Saturday night between 10pm and 1am and expecting to park in your lot on the 6600 block of Del Playa and if you do you better have patience and understanding for the situation. If you need to have a job where you get home at those hours, you might consider that when renting on the 6600 block of Del Playa considering there are dozens of other blocks to live on that are all in fact less expensive.

"Underage drinking in public? Bust em' give em a fine to pay and a suspended license for a year."

Not a crime. Everybody in IV and UCSB drinks, EVERYBODY. There is no good reason to punish any of them and ZERO reason to take away their license if they aren't driving. Stop being such a Nazi.

I was born in 1972 and lived in IV until 1995. Das Williams was a few years younger and I knew Carmen and his son G. I am always amazed at the simplistic "history" of IV that's presented by nostalgic articles such as this. There was a whole other side of IV filled with families that raised kids (like me), boat people from Laos and Vietnam, professors, dropouts, and all other fabric of a normal community. Yes, there were always students in IV but they were cool with us and we of them: they let us know when they'd be having a party and we let them know when we'd be working in the yard early in the morning. We volunteered to create the many pocket parks on Sueno and Pasado. We attended Park District meetings. We cared for our community quietly and respectively. Maturely. At any rate, Barney should drop an email to the other half of IV that has mostly left the area in exhaustion or disgust. There were many people that wanted the best for IV and would have been good and "adult" stewards. Their story should be told.

@blahblahmoreblah's comment is an excellent representation of a basic issue.

First, it's the perspective of one who knows (or not) IV at a distance. Blahblah must have phoned it in. It's issue number one, consistent with the title of Mr. Brantingham's commentary. It should be a requirement that discussants have walked the streets of IV.

Second, talking to you Blahblah, this fact "on the ground": Most of the streets don't have sidewalks. So residents - students and non-students - must walk on the street, in most cases literally weaving with bikes, cars, buses and service trucks. And now there are more and more strollers.

@Simpleton, another story that must be told and folded in, going forward, is that of the Hispanic families.

And after all, another story that must be told, flushed out actually, is that of the property owners, the principals of the extraction economy (q.v.) that is IV. Because after all, unless another major interest enters, what happens in IV is their will. It's replete if not explicit in any discussion of "the IV situation," including this one.

Reasons to pray that President Napolitano witnessed IV "on the ground".

Loony, I'm not EVEN going to waste time with your out of touch sense of alternate reality. We all know you're a truther, something akin to a teabagger. Go do what you're best at, dig up some conspiracy theory, maybe chemtrails ro something like that.

FirewindII, sorry to disappoint you, BUT THERE ARE SIDEWALKS ON EMBARCADERO DEL NORTE, EMBARCADERO DEL MAR, CAMINO PESCADERO AND CAMINO DEL SUR. Those are the streets that lead to the #2 party school in the US's party zone and this is where the divas and zombies flock down, interrupting traffic and in some cases causing problems with ANY motorist as they're probably coming home from work late at night.Those are the north-south thoroughfares, the main party streets such as Del Playa, Sabado Tarde, Trigo and in some cases Pasado run east to west and yes, I will grant you they don't have sidewalks, but before you make a blanket statement you need to realize 3 things:1) You didn't do your homework.2) I actually DO spend time out there and see the shenanigans.3) As a function of 1 and 2, your understanding of "party motion dynamics" is flawed.

My experience in IV was and is that the incomplete sidewalks get pedestrians into the habit of walking in the middle of the street. One's expectation is that the sidewalk will end, so why bother?

Walking in the street is relatively uncommon, in my experience, on Embarcaderos del Norte and del Mar. Lots of foot traffic crossing Pardall, and also on El Embarcadero those going north from Del Playa (where the sidewalks are not frequent) often are in the middle of the street.

But southbound foot traffic, used to the sidewalk on the west side of Emb. del Norte, tends to use the sidewalk on El Embarcadero.

Del Playa, Sabado, & Trigo have huge foot traffic in the street. The traffic dies out a bit on Pasado and Trigo, but is still present on weekend nights.

Pardall, I agree, but to a slight point. I have seen the foot traffic issues while hanging out in front of Woodstocks, Pizza My Heart, Cantina & Deja Vu.Leaving the IV Food Coop the other week I had a run in w/ some guys on Camino Pescadero walking in the middle of the street.One of them slapped the hood of my car, we had a bit of a confrontation, luckily the popo was nearby, the main perp was taken for DIP (drunk in public). this is NOT the 1st time this has happened. Oh, and by the way, I will be pressing full charges against the main offender, just because I can.Foo mentions vacant lots, not many left in IV, but the lack of sidewalks is definitely an issue.But of course, this falls under the SB Co Board of Supes and all Doreen Farr seemed interested in when campaigning was UCSB's fight for their right to party. Awesome.

The few places in Montecito that have some population density (Coast Village Road, technically in Santa Barbara) have good sidewalks.

What is amazing is a place with the population density of IV not having sidewalks. Frankly I'd set up a system of bollards and restrict car access to certain hours, and make many of the roads pedestrian/bike only most of the time. Emergency vehicles should be able to control the bollards. Foot patrol would need great bicycles with computer connections. Or maybe surreys.

Of course Surfrider wouldl oppose through the Coastal Commission.

Yes, I've even had drunks get on to my car on Friday nights. I have made internal peace with it. Cars are out of place there, except for using the streets as parking lots.

While "the Isla Vista situation" is cleverly laid at the feet of the university and "the County", IV is really at the effect of the property owners. "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!" The curtain is "the County". But "The County" is as poorly focused a proxy as "the Administration" was in time of protests at UCSB. As long as the light is not focused squarely on the property owners, they'll continue to escape their full responsibility.